“Sir – We are often told by Europhiles that the reason Britain must stay in the European Union is that, if we left, we would have no influence; the naming of Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission shows we have none anyway. We might just as well leave at the earliest opportunity and pocket the £50 million-plus-per-day it costs us to be ignored.”  Ian Goddard, Letters to the Daily Telegraph Editor, June 2014.

After Junker’s appointment as the new president of the EU, Ed Miliband said David Cameron had suffered a “humiliation” – a word of which he seems to have had no comprehension when in government. So, the Brussels circus has chosen a new ringmaster. None of the main performers wanted him but allegedly, the main German press (with whom Juncker has co-operated in the recent past) decided he was the man for the job, so common sense didn’t prevail. Bad news for the countries in the southern Eurozone – good news for the bars of Brussels, according to some reports.

Also, good news for Britain. Apparently, there’s an EFTA style deal on the table and we should start negotiations with the EU immediately and seek to exit before the UK’s interests are further marginalised. The British people are totally over taking instructions (EU directives) from a disparate group of overseas based career politicians – Juncker in charge of Europe conjures up thoughts of putting a sommelier on the bridge of the Titanic. The reality is that the people of Germany, Scandinavia and Holland know and accept the economic facts of life but from France down and elsewhere, national finances are a disaster and a break-up of the currency union is the only sensible answer.

The UK does not need to be involved in this impending gravy-train crash. An uncomplicated trade deal instead of full EU membership would change nothing in terms of our relations with the EU, other then returning government accountability to Westminster and driving a major lift to our economy by giving us greater flexibility to trade freely throughout the world. Exit from the EU linked to a trade deal would be a vote and election winner.